Happy Rosh Hashanah and Open Thread

Today is the beginning of the High Holy Days for those of the Jewish faith. The ten day period begins tonight at sundown with Rosh Hashanah (the new year), and ends in 10 days with Yom Kippur (day of atonement).

The customary greeting is "L’Shanah tovah." ("May you have a good year.") But, there are some others:

On Rosh Hashanah it is written… On Yom Kippur it is sealed. May it be written and may it be sealed that you have a new year that brings fulfillment and happiness, peace and prosperity – all of life’s very best things. Have a Happy, Healthy New Year!

It is a time of inner renewal and divine atonement. The phrase ‘head of the year’ comes from the idea that just as a head controls the body, the actions during Rosh Hashanah will have a great impact on the rest of the year.

Throughout Rosh HaShanah, we devote ourselves to looking back on the year that has passed and looking ahead to the year that has yet to come. It is a time to pause, reflect, and take stock of the choices we have made; to wrestle with who we are and who we want to be; and to seek forgiveness – and grant it as well, as we do our best to wipe the slate clean, and begin again. Every new year brings with it a fresh, new start.

L’shanah Tovah! To all, whether celebrating or not, may this year bring you good health, happiness, peace and prosperity.

question that the man has some type of dementia going on?
Alzheimers runs in his family. His lifestyle and his obesity might also lead one to suspect vascular dementia. Take your pick. (And how about the time he descended from the plane and wandered away from the Presidential limousine right at the bottom of the stairs, until he was guided back?)
Bad enough that he has shown every sign of narcissism, or if you are uncomfortable with that term, how about his being a spoiled brat who is used to getting his own way and cannot abide anyone crossing him? How about someone with anger management problems?
I have my relatives and friends in Europe emailing me all the time, especially after his UN speech, basically saying "WTF?"
And I tell them, I don't know, we have a lunatic in charge of the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, and we should all be very afraid.
Sigh. :-(

"There are many good reasons to watch 'The Vietnam War.' Unless you are very well informed, it will teach you things you do not know and correct things you thought you knew. It may be, if you are of those generations for whom the words 'the war' call to mind only Iraq or Afghanistan, that you know nothing of Vietnam at all. But there are lessons in this misadventure worth learning regarding the crooked course of human events and the collision of national interests and individual lives. Its multiplicity of voices, from both sides of the war and the war at home, might make you a more thoughtful, less judgmental person in the end if you pay attention. And you should pay attention."
- Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times (September 22, 2017)

... on PBS is breaking for a couple of nights before resuming on Sunday evening. It's superior filmmaking, easily the best made-for-television documentary since Ken Burns' "The Civil War" first graced our screens 27 years ago.

But I almost hate to admit that its sheer intensity and relentlessness has also been taking its toll on me mentally, to the point where I've started to wonder whether I can sustain myself during the entire run, night after night. Wednesday night's episode in particular, "Resolve," was particularly hard to watch. If nothing else, I've learned that I'm actually a lot closer to the subject emotionally than I've heretofore acknowledged to myself.

Listening to 94-year-old Jean-Marie Crocker and her 67-year-old daughter Carol talk about the wartime experiences conveyed to them in 19-year-old Denton Crocker's letters home, which culminated in his death in combat 50 years ago, was just heartbreaking. Upon seeing that single tear run down Carol's cheek as she recalled the day the U.S. Army officers came to their door to inform them that Denton was gone, I had to walk out of the room and regain my own composure.

Maybe it's so raw to me because so few of us who are members of Gold Star families were ever really given the opportunity to talk about our losses. That's because nobody ever really wanted to discuss a war that we ultimately lost, never mind the inherent divisiveness of the subject matter itself. Once the war was over, we all hastened to put it out of our minds as best we could.

But I think that because of our own failure to not reconcile our feelings with our leaders' betrayal of our national confidence, our collective Vietnam experience has instead been haunting the entire country ever since.

In that regard, filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick may be doing us a favor by compelling us to finally confront our demons, both real and imagined, and thus offering to us that much-needed opportunity to finally talk about the Vietnam War in very human and consequential terms, something which we've willfully denied to ourselves for far too long.

but its contribution is especially is incorporating the Vietnamese perspective -- North, South, military, civilian, and more.

And yes, we're only up to the Tet Offensive, with so many painful years to go. Talking about it at a family gathering yesterday, my spouse noted that I get so angry in watching it, "and we're not even at Nixon yet." He knows that he ain't seen nothing yet from the chair next to his in our tv room.

... then-GOP nominee Richard Nixon deliberately sabotaged the Paris Peace talks in October 1968, and then lied to LBJ about it. LBJ had an opportunity to end the war at a moment when all sides were exhausted and ready to bargain. Instead, Nixon made sure it went on for another seven years. What a phuquing scoundrel! There's got to be a special place in Hell for that man.

They have a road block down at the seven mile bridge that leads to the lower keys. No local ID no entry. I tried explaining to the officer I was heading down to help my friend...nope. He could see my generator, gas, rakes, clippers, and food, but no. Then he started twitching and adjusting his gun belt, which I've seen before, and know to shut up and leave. So I have more groceries here at home. Guess I'll power wash my filthy boat that is hidden under the rat tree. Those rats ate my boat wires last year. At least I tried. Bummer.

Charles got a pass to drive to Key West to inspect his boat, Ship of Fools, that wound up on the sea plane ramp on the Navy base. It had been in a mooring field on the North side of the island and wound up on the South side. It is a Shuttleworth cat that draws ~16 inches and weighs less than 11 tons so it was way up on the concrete ramp with several monohulls with lead keels blocking any chance to easily pull it off the ramp. I am encouraging him to repair the boat, in part based on this youtube vid. Here is another link to a huffpo article about my homies in BKH. As a final note this article is sad news for the economy in the Keys but an upside is that it may be a lot easier for me to dive lobster this season.

There's a family of little tiny rats in every palm tree. Many of rhem are the endangered Key Largo wood rats, who are very cute with their rounded ears, but are still rats. I think it's a Federal offense to kill them.

They ate my wires because the colored coating is batched up with vegetable oil to make them slippery when pulling wire through tight places.. it usually doesn't happen, but somebody had left half a candy bar in my boat, and that's all it took to send the rats on a feeding frenzy. That event cost me $700.

sporting event has to start with the anthem, accompanied by the presentation of the colors and often, some ginormous American flag. I also don't understand why God Bless America is still being sung in the 7th inning stretch of baseball games 16 years after the 9/11 attacks.

Are sports teams government-sponsored? I don't think so. Given the vast amounts of cash generated and paid, it would make more sense to play songs about money - and there are plenty of them to choose from.

I'm waiting for violence to break out at games, when "patriotic" folks who've been tailgating for hours decide to teach a lesson to anyone who doesn't stand for the anthem.

Donald Trump doesn't give a rat's a$$ about patriotism - he's too busy cultivating all the other "isms" to which he subscribes.

Meanwhile, when's the last time you heard Trump talk about the growing humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands?

his NY gender bender, his New Jersey voter registration on male/female was "unknown." Jared does seem to have difficulty filling out forms of all sort. Hope there are not too many documents to complete in his quest for Middle East peace.

as of the 22nd. for the first time in 6 years i am not greeting it with dread. my other house had 3 gigantic maple trees. and about a dozen others but the maples were the problem. you would sriously not believe how many leaves.

if you just let the pile up they would be waist to chest deep over about a half acre. and i couldnt just blow them off the yard, like here.

this is in the middle of a forest but i can ust blow them in any direction because no neighbors.

I recorded the DiscoveryID Unabomber miniseries and am catching up on that. I don't know that much about the case and I'm sure there are shortcuts being taken with the facts, but overall I think it is pretty good - good explanation of the forensic linguistics aspect that led to Kazynski's arrest. Thats the most interesting part of it to me.

A little disturbing they got someone as attractive as Paul Bettany to play him - can't hide that appeal under the grungy beard, etc.

"Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end who committed suicide in April while serving a life sentence for murder, was found to have one of the most severe forms of C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma that has been found in more than 100 former N.F.L. players."

I have a coworker who has a habit of mixing metaphors and coming out with malapropisms, and the other day, she was telling me a story about something, and she said, "so, I said to this person, yada-yada-yada, and then (she throws up her hands)...church mice!"

I started laughing, and she asked me what was so funny. I said, "well, there is an expression about someone being as quiet as a church mouse, so I totally got that you were saying this person had no response, but what people usually say in that situation to convey that silence is the response is, "crickets."

I now use "church mice" all the time now, so if you start hearing it, you'll know where it started!

Football is a brutal sport, I always saw the probable physical damage accepted by the players as somehow noble. Most of them(at the pro level at least) understood the their limbs and joints would suffer and carried on.

However the apparent high probability of brain damage is a whole different ball of wax. I still enjoy watching football, but there is a sadness about it, like watching a movie where you know the heroes are doomed.

Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, who was engaged to former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, has filed a lawsuit against the Patriots and the NFL in the midst of Hernandez's diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

According to TMZ Sports, the suit was filed on behalf of the couple's daughter and states "Aaron had stage 3 CTE usually seen in players with a median age of death of 67 years," alleging that neither the league nor the team properly informed Hernandez as to the risks involved.

is a more than zero chance that football as a sport will be litigated out of existence. The science is relatively new and it might be hard to prove that the NFL, the Patriots(or the Gators for that matter) for fully aware of the danger. Moving forward, as the evidence mounts, that lack of awareness will no longer fly.

has it 2005, but I meant "new" in the sense that very few rigorous studies had been done. Not to say there was not plenty of willful ignorance involved, but you could say that about vast swaths of American society for the last several decades.

In 2002, former Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster is found dead in his pickup truck, after years of self-mutilation and homelessness. Before his death, a fellow football player, Justin Strzelczyk, comes to him, and confides that he is starting to lose his memory, that he is saying odd things to his children, and nearly threw his wife against the wall. A disoriented Webster brushes the worries off, and deliriously tells him that the most important thing "is to finish the game", which is what he said during his Hall of Fame speech.

Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist with the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania cororner's office, handles Webster's autopsy. He wonders how a man, otherwise healthy, and fairly young, could have degenerated so quickly, and makes it a point to figure out why he died of a heart attack at only fifty. Omalu closely examines microscope slides of Webster's brain and discovers that he had severe brain damage. He ultimately determines that Webster died as a result of the long-term effects of repeated blows to the head, a disorder he later calls chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). With the help of former Steelers team doctor Julian Bailes, fellow neurologist Steven T. DeKosky and county coroner Cyril Wecht, Omalu publishes a paper on his findings, which is initially dismissed by the NFL.

Met Dr. Omalu, attended a talk he gave, and was invited to go out to dinner with him (with a bunch of other scientists).
He said that Dr. Omalu was a very interesting speaker, that the NFL pushed back strongly against his research findings and actually tried to suppress them, and that, oh, BTW, Will Smith looks nothing like Dr. Omalu. 😉

my nephew was a promising high school player. he was being courted by college scouts and seemed well on his way to a full scholarship.

i could link to dozens of glowing new stories about him.

one night he dislocated his sholder. they popped it back in and he insisted on going back in. now, at this point IMO the coach is responsible but whatever. he went back in. and his sholder was dislocated two more times. the damage was so bad his future as a college player ended that night.

hes working on a fracking crew.

my point is, while particularly in THIS case others should be held responsible and never were, the fact is the players have to take some responsibility for this.

the wealthiest woman in the world and heiress of the cosmetics giant L'Oreal, has died at 94. Mme. Bettencourt is the subject of a very engaging book, "The Bettencourt Affair," (2017) by Tom Sancton, Paris chief for Time Magazine.

A family drama that morphed into a massive scandal over about a ten-year period, dealing with the estrangement of Mme Bettencourt's only daughter, Francois Bettencourt Meyer, L'Oreal's shadowy corporate history during WW II (Vichy), and the curious relationship she had with the handsome and debonair, Francois-Marie Banier, the gay man, 25 years her junior, to whom she lavished cash, gifts and real estate to the tune of $1 billion euros.

MIss Bettencourt-Meyers lawsuit involved the mental capacity of her mother and the intrigue of politicians, such as Sarkozy, and upstairs/downstairs conniving.

What seems, at first, like a clear case of elder advantage is really a complex one of greed and envy by the daughter. M. Banier was an accomplished artist and photographer who appears to have given Mme. Bettencourt a new lease on life for the sheltered heiress..or maybe, just a new lease to live. For 20 years he befriended both M & Mme Bettencourt. After M. Bettencourt's death, M. Banier was her only contact. While M. Banier did receive %l billion, there was, after all, still $ 37 billion left for the daughter and her sons..who lived just across the street from their mother/grandmother, but had little to do with her. A good summer read, and, not a bad one for fall.

WASHINGTON -- Director Rob Reiner is joining a new group called the Committee to Investigate Russia, to highlight what is known about the Russian threat to interfere with American elections and other institutions.

The committee was scheduled to go live with a website on Tuesday at InvestigateRussia.org, as well as a video featuring Morgan Freeman. Reiner and David Frum of The Atlantic were expected to announce the launch of the group.

The committee's advisory board members include Reiner; James Clapper, the former director of National Intelligence; Charlie Sykes, the conservative political commentator; Max Boot, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; and Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Seems like a switch went on in both my late older dog and my current one, when they hit 10 yrs they just want to go outside and bark every 10 minutes.

Funny thing with this one though is that she is so obsessed with her current squeaky rubber ball that now I just have to squeak it from inside the house to get her to come back in, instead of going out and yelling at her.

I'd rather just prevent it though - any ideas? I've thought of one of those soft muzzles but I think she'd just go nuts trying to take it off. I do shut the doggy door earlier now so the neighbors don't get too mad at me.

In the wild, an animal that loses a step due to advancing age or a debilitating injury tends to not last very long. They either fall victim to a predator or rival, or they starve.

But in the tender loving care of their human companions / owners and residing in a good home, domesticated dogs and cats tend to live a lot longer than they would otherwise, were they on their own. And as they age, we should be aware that they can sometimes be prone to dementia, just like their humans.

Is your dog a large dog, like a Labrador retriever, German shepherd or mixed breed thereof -- or a small little yappy thing like a Chihuahua or Pomeranian? Because if she's a big dog, then 10 years is on the older side for her.

While you'll probably want to discuss this issue further with your dog's vet and have her examined, please note that one symptom of canine dementia is the onset of incessant barking for no discernible reason.

If your dog is suffering from early stages of the malady, she may have trouble immediately recognizing and remembering you, or perhaps she may get "lost" in the yard or the house. Her general confusion would lead her to bark in distress, especially in the evening hours or later at night.

One tip-off you provided here was that she still recognizes the sound of her squeaky rubber ball. That sound when you squeeze it reassures her, which is why she quiets down and comes into the house so readily when you use it to call her inside.

Again, you really ought to talk to your vet, if only so you can recognize the signs of canine cognitive dysfunction and cope with other changes in your dog's behavior as she ages.

You can call me kdog anytimeI I consider it a compliment! and the topic is dogs, so it makes sense.

She is a golden retriever, as was my other dog, so I know 10 is getting up there. Also she has been blind since sometime early this year - she probably has a tumor near her optic nerve, is the best the vet can tell without an expensive MRI. She does seem to get into kind of an obsessive pattern of circling the den, going outside, barking, I call her, she comes in and relaxes a few minutes, then starts it all over. Very possible she loses track of what is going on and reverts to that habit. I shut the doggy door now when I know she's done all her business for the night.

She is so healthy apart from the sight issue that I tend to forget there will be other issues wth old age. It's ok, we'll get through it together. She's a sweetie.

Bark disrupters. It is triggered by barking and it emits sound out if our frequency range that distracts the barker and they stop.

My only problem with them down South was that the outdoors was so hard on them. The humidity degrades them. Only good for about a year. But they are great for any neighborhood habitual barker. They'll quiet more than one yard down.

for tRump, don't trash talk people who have spent their lifetime in the birthplace of trash talk. Link It seems to have some traction, these guys are superstars after all, eat your heart out you PV loser.

I like King James shot.

LeBron James called out the president for his swipe at Curry.

"U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!"

Does anyone think Colin Kaepernick could file a suit against tRump? Seems like a pretty clear violation of his civil rights, he seems to be advocating for a punishment for him (or someone acting as he did) for exercising his right to free speech.

most americans consider sitting or kneeling during the national anthem to be disrespectful and many consider it overtly unpatriotic.

i'm inclined to think that president trump is poking this hornet's nest because there is little down-side for him politically.

Quinnipiac University Poll
The only age group to agree with the athletes protesting was the millennial age group, which in the poll was identified as 18-35. More than half of the millennials -- 52 percent -- said they approved of the athletes' protests, while 37 percent disapproved.

is the issue, just because some people don't like it doesn't give the president the right to trample on anyone's right. Private American citizens have every right to condemn or endorse Kaepernick's actions as they see fit, tRump doesn't

The first amendment is specifically intended to protect speech from government suppression, given that the president is more or less the voice of our government he has no right to even suggest sanctions against speech that he deems"unpatriotic".

He could have used the common mantra " I disagree with what you say but defend your right to say it", a line that has been used by both left and right(many times honestly) whenever something like this arises.

But of course, tRump chose to act like a petty, tyrannical bully just to rile up the crowd. You are probaly right he will not lose much support over this but this is just another step into the darkness that this country is descending into.

most americans consider sitting or kneeling during the national anthem to be disrespectful and many consider it overtly unpatriotic.

I don't consider it any more "unpatriotic" than writing a letter to the editor. Sometimes I see LTEs that I disagree with.

Tonight a member of the Oakland Athletics took a knee, and the team management made a statement afterward that they respected their players as individuals with the right to do as they pleased in this situation.

I love this, I live in the Bay Area and root for the A's. The Haas family who once owned the team are friends. Most of the Bay Area roots for the Giants, so I'm in a minority.

Last week Marshawn Lynch, Superbowl champ and now Raiders star, took a knee, as did Seahawk William Bennett.

These players actually have contracts that govern their relationship with the owners. If that contract does not have specific language penalizing the players for taking a knee, they can't be "fired" as easily as just saying that they are.

You don't have to play them, but you will still have to pay them, as well as whomever you hire to take their places.

The Vietnam War pretty much belied the conservatives' "my country, right or wrong" mantra, as far as I'm concerned. That a bubble-headed bleach blond who's likely in bed with the Russians would seek o define patriotism for everyone else is the stuff of Mel Brooks-level farce, were the circumstances not so obviously tragic.

gets my goat is the parade of apologists insisting that kneeling during the anthem is somehow "disrespectful" to American soldiers. Yet several weeks ago most if not all of these same hypocrites were fine with waving the flag and honoring the statues of the men who had the blood of hundreds of thousands of American soldiers on their hands.

Colin Kaepernick, as far as I can tell never harmed our flag or country, Robert E Lee et al dragged it thru the mud and the blood. Funny how one is considered a heroic figure and the other is a SOB among the "very fine people" that came to Charlottesville waving confederate flags and chanting Nazi slogans.

looks like at least a dozen on each team keeled in London this morning.

The apologists are on CNN arguing a ridiculous strawman that kneeling is somehow disrespectful to the armed forces and first responders (meanwhile waving the Confederate flags and chanting Nazi slogans remains totally about heritage).

Most of them seem to be almost demanding that the team owners crack down on this "treason".

on TV this morning, making the argument that players don't have a 1st Amendment right to protest, that if the NFL made it a rule that players had to stand, they wouldn't have the choice. They are on the field as employees, not citizens.

And can I just say that I'm sick to death of the military and first responders hijacking the flag to make it their symbol. They don't own the flag - it belongs to all of us, and if they don't understand that they served/serve to preserve our rights, then it's time someone educated them.

could pretty much say everything tRump tweets is diversionary. I don't think there is any logical plan to his outbursts (not to say that it doesn't work), but I just can't imagine him gaming out an attack on Kaepernick and the NFL, as far as I can tell tRump does not do gambits, I have never seen him actually do anything that indicates he ever is thinking about the next move, so it's hard to assign his actions as strategic or tactical.

What struck me how he seemed pulled out this controversy out of nowhere (it's kind of old news, still bubbling in the background, but hardly headline grabbing).

Why would he pick a fight with the NFL? Maybe he holds a grudge? Trump's strange history with pro football, also he found a good way(for him) to call a black man a SOB in front of a slavering gang of deplorables. That's a win-win in tRumpland, the diverion is just gravy lapped up by the media and regurgitated endlessly by his surrogates.

swore to uphold the Constitution. Trump's playing to the Alabamans at the Luther Strange rally, in effect, violated his oath of office. In my view, if we had Republicans in the House whose patriotic duty went beyond singing/listening to/humming the national anthem at sportsball events, Trump's words would be among Articles of Impeachment---along with the political evidence of election collusion with Russia, which some might consider disrespectful, unpatriotic, and criminal.

Probably, those Alabamans agree with Trump that Russia/Trump is a hoax; and even if true, it does not matter since Trump won and Hillary didn't. Bottom line.

Indeed, the "disrespect" of subverting our democracy in the Russian affair and "disrespect" by kneeling in protest of injustice during the national anthem at commercial sporting events, at stadiums named for beer, chewing gum, iphones, and banks, is disproportional.

Not only is the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner," not deeply rooted in our history, including our sports history, but also, its adoption as our national anthem was not until 1931. It was not much on James Madison's mind, in all likelihood.

The "Star Spangled Banner" had its debut in sports during the 1918 World Series, with its surprise playing during the 7th inning stretch. The country was at war, and its playing generated warm feelings of patriotism.

A public relations bonus for ball players was also achieved at a time when some people were wondering why the players were on the ball field rather than in the trenches of France.

Over time, the patriotic awe faded, and fans talked, laughed, texted, tweeted, checked email/facebook...impatiently, in some case, just waiting for the games to start. Not too many fans actually sing along, or even know the words. Which could be construed as being disrespectful or, even, unpatriotic.

Of course, when someone famous is perceived to denigrate or not show sufficient honor, it becomes an affront. Something a demagogic president might seize upon, as raw meat and/or as a convenient diversion.

peacefully is about as American as you can get, the founders would be aghast at this pogrom against it. The very idea that one should be punished for showing insufficient fealty to the government (or its over hyped symbols) is about as un-American as you can get.

it's fine for these footballers to protesters but - IN MY OPINION - it's also fine for those people who are irritated with footballers protesting (sitting, kneeling, on the ground streatching) during the national anthem to voice or tweet their irritation with that behavior.

it's fine for these footballers to protesters but - IN MY OPINION - it's also fine for those people who are irritated with footballers protesting (sitting, kneeling, on the ground streatching) during the national anthem to voice or tweet their irritation with that behavior.

... no one said it wasn't fine, with the exception of the President, who should have more respect for the first amendment, who shouldn't engage in race-baiting and who shouldn't stoke racial divisions for his own political purposes.

obviously do not understand the first amendment, private citizens have every right to protest as they please (as long as they are peaceful or not otherwise breaking other laws). The government, on the other hand has absolutely no right to try to suppress or punish dissent.

obviously do not understand the first amendment, private citizens have every right to protest as they please (as long as they are peaceful or not otherwise breaking other laws). The government, on the other hand has absolutely no right to try to suppress or punish dissent.

what Moore beating Strange is actually going to say. About the GOP about Trump and about Alabama in general. Mostly it says that the Alabama GOP is composed of crazy fundamentalists but all of us here already knew that. Will it dawn on more people? I guess we will see.

The NFL has rules covering things like the kinda socks the players can wear and have fined players for wearing socks that are too high on their legs. So it should be no big shock to learn there are NFL rules covering mandatory playing of the national anthem before games and that players must stand, refrain from talking, and hold helmets in their left hand. The rule does say fines "may" be imposed as this wapo article points out. Given what a stickler the NFL is for rules it is hard for Goodell to let this slide.

Not saying a normal human would not let it slide; just that Goodell and the NFL admins are not normal human beings.

Given projections that broadcast companies' ad revenue will drop $US200,000,000, or more this year, and how NFL premium partners came out bashing the handling of the Ray Rice affair combined with many high schools dropping football due to injuries to players I am not optimistic about football continuing to be the most profitable sport in the US. It may well go the way of boxing and see fewer eyeball watching its games and less money from sponsors and partners. Not a minute too soon in my opinion.

"Players are encouraged but not required to stand during the playing of the National Anthem," the NFL said in a statement issued Saturday, in response to the controversy that emerged when 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick opted not to stand during the playing of the national anthem on Friday night in Santa Clara, prior to a game against the Packers.

Your confusion is explained in the wapo article. The NFL has a rules book and also has an operations manual. You are using a blurb from the rules book which differs from the operations manual.

Here is a blurb from the wapo article.

"The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league's game operations manual, according to a league source."

Here is what is on those pages:

"During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses."

Hope you can follow this Snopes link which gives a more detailed explanation. Seems like the rules book was changed a little in 2016 but the operations manual was not.

Bottom line is the NFL seems to be back peddling about pre game rules and got caught with their pants down.

But bottom line for me is you seem to be ignoring my point which is the NFL in general and Goodell in particular are jerks who are making up the rules as they go along and are ignoring due process in picking and choosing the rules they enforce.

The NFL's rulebook says nothing about player conduct during the pre-game playing of the U.S. national anthem.

WHAT'S FALSE

The NFL's game operations manual may contain a regulation stating that players must be present on the sidelines during the national anthem, but not that they must stand.

[...]

We have not yet been able to independently confirm the existence and wording of this second document (the NFL has not responded to our query), but the proffered wording states that players must "be" on the sideline for the national anthem, not that they must "stand" on the sideline (the latter is listed as something players "should" do). It also states that players "may" (not "shall") be penalized for not observing the regulation, and indeed the NFL announced that they would not hand down any discipline over players' remaining in the locker room before Week 3 games:

I don't disagree that the NFL has some pretty arcane and arbitrary rules, and a highly flexible way of dealing with them. But what does that have to do with the reason for the protests?

Nothing.

As I see it, the protest is three-fold: (1) it responds to the president's ignorant comments in a peaceful, non-confrontational way, (2) it brings much-needed light to something many people of color regard as a kind of plague: the unnecessary killing of black men (and women) with no consequence and (3) the unfair treatment of Colin Kaepernick, on whom the NFL's doors closed for his own peaceful protest.

Maybe that's something you could address, instead of trying to shift the discussion to the NFL.

My thought is that seeing all those players in solidarity sent a shiver up the spine of league management, as they realized players have the ability to shut the game down. For management, this has nothing to do with patriotism, and everything to do with the almighty dollar. How else to explain that Goodell never even mentioned Trump by name in his statement?

To address what sends shivers up the spine of NFL management since the NFL is the elephant in the room.

The last players strike in 2011 is credited with giving the players bigger pay checks due to the broadcast networks viewing the ten year deal as providing stability to contracts.

The players union has stated it will be better prepared for the 2021 negotiations than it was in 2011 and will try to get even more than the current 55% of revenue.

Problem is for the last few years eyeballs watching NFL games on TV have been decreasing. So much so that revenue from ads during televised NFL games is expected to be more than $US200,000,00 less than expected. No one doubts things like cable cutting and changing demographics just to name two have also cut into the loss of eyeballs. Not to mention the fallout of the Ray Rice mess; along with several other players who seemed to have no problem beating women and children. By the by have you checked out what it costs to attend a NFL game in person, something like $US600 for a family of four in the cheap seats. Oh yea, there is that thing about injuries too.

Even without a players strike/walkout/whatever there were plenty of things sending shivers up management's spine. But if the players took some action to shut down the game that might well be the straw that broke the camel's back.

Sources as varied as Entertainment Weekly and various investment sites are all bearish on professional football for the reasons listed above. I have to agree with that assessment. And on a personal level I can not remember the last time I watched a NFL game.

Not sure it is possible to separate the NFL from the social justice issue you want me to address. But please take note of my comment about Entertainment Weekly.
Watching an NFL game is entertainment. For quite a while those watching expected to be entertained by football. There seems to be a significant number of eyeballs that object to being entertained by players kneeling during the national anthem. I doubt there is much of an entertainment market for kneeling players.

The advertisers pay good money to get their ads in front of eyeballs being entertained by something else. If the number of eyeballs decreases then the advertisers will stop paying as much money as they do not.
Bloomberg had a really good blurb about it.

"The tweets put the owners and league into a really precarious position," said Dan Durbin, head of the Annenberg Institute for Sports, Media & Society at the University of Southern California. "There is some part of their fan base that does buy into Trump. If they say something too strong against what Trump says, you lose those core fans. Whereas if you don't respond to Trump, everybody else is really going to start falling away with disinterest. They are damned if they do, damned if they don't."

Thing is fewer eyeballs means the protests shed less light on the issues you seem to want to spotlight. Not to mention the eyeballs you want light shed on are most likely the ones who are voting with their TV clicker.

As for Colin Kaepernick most sporting sites had him more as a backup than a starter. To make matters worse for him he would only be a backup in a system geared to his style. But probably more important even if he had better skills he was never viewed as a great team leader or good for team chemistry. Not to mention there were rumors he was offered a contract at the league minimum and refused; he wanted the big bucks.

Bottom line is ad revenue trumps social justice. And any eyeballs that want to view social justice stuff can always go to MSNBC.

But I guess I have to ask you if you know the difference between "should" and "must," or between "may" and "shall?"

The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem.

During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.

Honestly, you could drive a truck through those loopholes; it reads like something designed to give the appearance of the league controlling players' behavior.

The only "must" that I found is that the anthem "must" be played and players "must" be on the sidelines.

But again, so what? Pretty sure "the rules" were discussed among the players, with their teams' management, etc. Also sure players engaged in protest knowing they "may" be fined.

Again, so what? What the NFL does or doesn't do is irrelevant. Whatever tizzy they're in has to do with the money, with fans burning their team gear, with fans selling their PSLs, with fans deciding to boycott games, with cameras looking at lots of empty seats. That's what matters to the NFL, not deciding to be a force for change.

But I'm pretty sure the author is about to release the third one in the series (Pillars is number 1). I have to admit the second series (World Without End) was not quite as good on TV as Pillars but they are both excellent books.

see my post above. NFL rules require the anthem to be played and players stand while it is being played. Fines "may" be imposed. But given how anal the NFL is about rules Goodell looks silly ignoring blatant violation of the rules.

Of course the rule is silly as well. But it is not easy to defend taking the position that Goodell gets to say which rules are enforced and which rules he turns a blind eye to.

... suggesting that any decision to impose a fine is entirely at the discretion of the controlling authority. And since the NFL hasn't imposed a fine before now, they'd look rather silly doing so at this point at the behest of the world's oldest toddler and his toddler supporters.

Personally, I find this entire discussion to be tedious and trivial. I wish the NFL would return to its old policy, in which both teams would remain in the locker room until the anthem was played, and then emerge from their respective tunnels for the coin flip and kickoff.

Speaking for myself only, I believe that patriotism should mean more to people than standing at rapt attention, staring at a piece of flaccid bunting while the tune to an 18th century English drinking song ("To Anachreon in Heaven") is played by a band or over a loudspeaker.

And I'm certainly not going to take Trump or his dimwitted followers seriously on the subject, given that his campaign and administration is under federal investigation for their connections to Russian intelligence and Putin's oligarchic cronies.

(i)The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.

and Puerto Rico, Strange Moore, Lindsey/Cassidy. Distracting and divisive; this one will fade soon, but the others are of long duration and waiting for him. Footballgate, however much lesser in comparison, say, to North Korea, is important to the resistance. For sports fans it is not a good distraction, and they may think...doesn't he have bigger things to worry about?

"Iran just test-fired a Ballistic Missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea," Trump tweeted. "Not much of an agreement we have!"

Except, they didn't

THE HILL

Iran's recent ballistic missile launch was fake and never took place, U.S. officials told Fox News on Monday.

Iran state television claimed that the nation had successfully fired a missile and aired footage of the launch on Friday, but that video was actually of a launch that took place in January, according to Fox News.

That missile exploded shortly after launch.

President Trump had responded to the launch in a tweet Saturday.

You know, I think we are reaching a tipping point. It's hard to imagine even the spineless soulless republicans will not eventually get sick and tired of this.

never going to happen. He's in a safe seat and wouldn't want an insurrection from his voters. Same as it always was back in January. Trump is going to be there and we are going to have to win elections. Even if Mueller comes up with something which I'm quite sure he is going to the GOP will do nothing.

Where he was on a bit of a "everything is worse now" tirade - reminding him that as recently as the 90s most people didn't approve of interracial marriage, and that much more recently than that they didn't approve of gay marriage. And the debate about the pay gap wasn't about whether it's inherent sexism or a product of lifestyle choices - but it was "why should anyone care that we deliberately pay women less for the same work". Or the fact that as recently as 10 years ago, there was no debate about how to protect people with pre-existing conditions while cutting medicaid, we just didn't do it at all.

Sometimes it feels so much like one step forward, two steps back, but honestly it is two steps forward, one step back. It's just hard to remember and see that when you're taking a step back.

No one was killed when they pepper-sprayed those kids at UC Davis. And most people didn't approve.